Working Papers in Educational Linguistics

(WPEL)
Volume 26
Number 2 Special Issue on Mass Media and Article 5
Schooling

Fall 2011

Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Humans: Learning from

Participatory Responses to the Representation of Native
Americans in Twilight
Joanna L. Siegel
University of Pennsylvania

Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/wpel

Part of the Education Commons, and the Linguistics Commons

Recommended Citation
Siegel, J. L. (2011). Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Humans: Learning from Participatory Responses to
the Representation of Native Americans in Twilight. 26 (2), Retrieved from https://repository.upenn.edu/
wpel/vol26/iss2/5

This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/wpel/vol26/iss2/5

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Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Humans: Learning from Participatory
Responses to the Representation of Native Americans in Twilight

This article is available in Working Papers in Educational Linguistics (WPEL): https://repository.upenn.edu/wpel/

vol26/iss2/5
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/HDUQLQJIURP3DUWLFLSDWRU\5HVSRQVHV
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1DWLYH$PHULFDQVLQTwilight
-RDQQD/X]6LHJHO

University of Pennsylvania

Over the last decade, Stephenie Meyer’s immensely popular Twilight franchise—a
VHULHVRIIDQWDV\QRYHOV0H\HUDQGWKHLUÀOPDGDSWDWLRQV
(Godfrey, Mooradian, & Hardwicke, 2008; Godfrey, Morgan, & Weitz, 2009;
Godfrey, Rosenfelt, & Slade, 2010)—has spurred a diverse and complex
participatory culture (Jenkins, 2006; Jenkins, 2010) of online commentary from
fans and critics alike. This paper will focus on a subset of participatory voices
that take discursive stances regarding Twilight’s representation of members of the
Quileute Nation, an American Indian tribe in Northwest Washington. Fictional
Quileute characters feature centrally in the plotline and mythos of Twilight, and
people’s reactions to these representations, engaging issues of culture, ethnicity,
class and gender, have transformed the cultural meaning of the Twilight franchise;
these participants have also inserted Twilight into an ongoing debate about
representations of Native Americans in the media. Learning from this locus of
GLVFXUVLYHDFWLYLW\ZHPD\XVHIXOO\UHRULHQWWKHÀHOGRI&ULWLFDO0HGLD/LWHUDF\
Education (cf. Alvermann & Hagood, 2000; Kellner & Share, 2005) around the
concepts of participation and UHÁH[LYLW\ as more precise and effective than mere
criticality in generating a transformative approach to Media Literacy Education.

&UHDWLRQ0\WKV

“Do you know any of our old stories, about where we came from—the
Quileutes, I mean?” he began.
“Not really,” I admitted.
“Well, there are lots of legends, some of them claiming to date back to
the Flood—supposedly, the ancient Quileutes tied their canoes to the tops
of the tallest trees on the mountain to survive like Noah and the ark.”
He smiled, to show me how little stock he put in the histories. “Another
legend claims that we descended from wolves—and that the wolves are
our brothers still. It’s against tribal law to kill them.
“Then there are the stories about the cold ones.” His voice dropped a
little lower.
“The cold ones?” I asked, not faking my intrigue now.
(Meyer, 2005, p. 124)

Working Papers in Educational Linguistics 26(2): 79-103, 2011

 WPEL VOLUME 26, ISSUE 2

T
he Twilight1 series, a four-volume collection of young adult novels by
ÀUVWWLPH DXWKRU 6WHSKHQLH 0H\HU KDV WDNHQ RQ LWV RZQ P\WKLFDO VWDWXV
in American popular culture. It has demonstrated an almost supernatural
power to attract media attention, generate an ever-expanding universe of dedicated
fandom (and impassioned critique), and propel otherwise unknown individuals
(Meyer included) into the highest ranks of celebrity. Its own origin story, now well
publicized, begins with a dream Meyer had in 2003:

In my dream, the basics of which would become the meadow scene in

chapter 13, I can see a young woman in the embrace of a very handsome
young man, in a beautiful meadow surrounded by forest, and somehow
I know that he is a vampire. In the dream there is a powerful attraction
between the two. (Blasingame, 2006)

This “powerful attraction,” which was eventually written into a star-crossed love
connection between Bella Swan, a pretty but otherwise unremarkable teenage
(human) girl, and Edward Cullen, a vampire who lives with a coven that has
sworn off of human blood for its sustenance.
Layered throughout the arc of the Bella-Edward love story is the “historic”
tension between the vampires of Forks, Washington (a real town) and the
werewolves of nearby LaPush, site of the Quileute Indian Reservation (also real).
In a public interview at Arizona State University, Meyer told her audience of
students, faculty, English teachers, aspiring writers and young children:

I did quite a bit of research on the Quileutes, the nation that Jacob and Bil-
ly belong to. All of the legends in the books are part of their tradition, the
werewolves and so on. The only legend that is not a part of the Quileute
WUDGLWLRQ LV WKH SDUW , GHYLVHG VSHFLÀFDOO\ WR ÀW WKH &XOOHQV ,QWHUYLHZ
with Stephenie Meyer, 2006)

But representatives of the Quileute Nation have clearly articulated that, although
wolves are a part of traditional mythology, there is no mention of werewolves
or wolf-based supernatural creatures in Quileute lore (Dickerson, 2009). Humans
are thought to have been transformed from wolves into their current form (as
PHQWLRQHGEULHÁ\LQWKHÀUVWERRNDQGÀOPFLWHGLQWKHHSLJUDSKRIWKLVSDSHU
rather than the opposite, as the Twilight books and movies depict in much greater
detail and at greater length: Quileute boys “phasing” from their muscled (usually
shirtless) human bodies into computer-generated, supersized werewolves.2
Nonetheless, Chris Morganroth III, a (real-life) Quileute master storyteller in
LaPush, empathizes with Meyer’s project:

1
In this paper, I will use the terms Twilight, the Twilight Saga, and the Saga interchangeably to refer to
WKHRYHUDOOIUDQFKLVHDVDSRSFXOWXUDOXQLW7HFKQLFDOO\WKHÀUVWQRYHOLVWLWOHGTwilight and each subse-
quent book has its own title (New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking DawnZKLOHWKHVHULHVRIÀOPDGDSWDWLRQV
follow those titles all under the aegis of the Twilight Saga. I have attempted to be clear when referring to
DSDUWLFXODUERRNRUÀOP7KHIRXUWKDQGÀIWKÀOPVLQWKHSagaEDVHGRQWKHÀUVWDQGVHFRQGKDOYHVRI
Breaking Dawn: a novel, respectively), had not been released yet at the time of publication.
2
0\RZQUHVHDUFKLQWRDYDLODEOHIRONORULVWGRFXPHQWDWLRQUHÁHFWVWKDWKRZHYHUÁDZHGWKH\PD\
be in other ways, the secondhand reports of Quileute lore made by outsiders are not responsible for
providing Meyer with this false information (cf. Farrand & Meyer, 1919; Ruby & Brown, 1986).

80
 VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, AND OTHER HUMANS
We have stories in LaPush that explain events going back to the Ice Age,
but science and history people claim that we came across the land bridge
PXFKODWHUWKDQWKDW$QGKHUERRNLVDZRUNRIÀFWLRQ,IVKHQHHGHGWR
make some changes to make it more exciting that is up to her. (Dickerson,
2009, np)

Morganroth points to the important fact that the art of storytelling is meant to
cultivate experiences for the audience—regardless of veracity. In the Quileute
FRPPXQLW\VWRULHVWROGDURXQGWKHERQÀUHUHFRQVWUXFWWKHNQRZOHGJHRIKRZRQH·V
ancestors came to understand the world on their own terms; in the contemporary
ZRUOG WKHVH VWRULHV PD\ EHFRPH SDUW RI WKH ZD\ FRPPXQLW\ PHPEHUV GHÀQH
themselves in the context of greater human society.
In the Twihard fandom, stories also constitute the very core of a sense of
community, and the true story of Twilight is being rewritten constantly around the
JOREDO ÀUH FLUFOH RI WKH ,QWHUQHW 7KLV SDSHU ZLOO H[SORUH KRZ 7KH Twilight Saga’s
audiences have made sense of the stylized stories they have read and watched about
the Quileute Nation, voicing their perspectives online for open consumption and
further transformation. These audiences may be composed of Quileute persons
themselves, Twilight fans of all walks, or averred detractors of the Saga. Their diverse
and complex discourses do not always fall under the traditional rubric of critical
PHGLDOLWHUDF\SUDFWLFHVEXWWKH\DUHDOOFULWLFDOLQUHÁH[LYHO\UHGHÀQLQJZKDWWKH
Twilight Saga means to a multitude of people who draw meaning from it. Although
commonly dismissed in academia and the general populace, the discourses of pop
culture consumers-cum-producers play an active role in writing a Twilight meta-
narrative that affects the larger social and cultural landscape. The purpose of tracing
the transformation of these readers and viewers into writers, and of analyzing the
texts they produce, is to reframe the study and pedagogy of Critical Media Literacy,
emphasizing participation and UHÁH[LYLW\ as key elements in the place of criticality—an
often blurry notion that fails to encompass the nature and function of the valuable
PHGLDOLWHUDF\SUDFWLFHVÁRXULVKLQJRQWKH,QWHUQHWDQGHOVHZKHUHWRGD\

3RS*RHV3DUWLFLSDWRU\$1HZ0HGLD(WKLFV"

I offer several rationales for this project—the foremost being that the import
of pop culture is often overlooked or underplayed in academic literature and
school curricula. In this regard, Buckingham and Sefton-Green (1994) describe
the dominant viewpoint of mid-nineties British conservatism: “Consuming
popular media is seen to require no intellectual or cultural competencies, and
thus to develop none” (p. 2). This characterization would seem to echo the current
political climate in the United States, which has given rise to a highly standardized
English curriculum and such federal initiatives as the “Shakespeare in American
Communities” project.3 Buckingham and Sefton-Green go on to argue that popular
PHGLDSOD\DODUJHUUROHLQWKHLQWHOOHFWXDOOLYHVRIVWXGHQWVWKDQPHUHO\IXOÀOOLQJ
standardized curricular goals:

…what students say about popular culture, and the texts they produce,
are part of the process by which they construct their own social identities.
$OWKRXJKWKLVSURFHVVLQHYLWDEO\LVGHÀQHGLQWHUPVRIVRFLDOSRZHU³
3
http://www.nea.gov/national/shakespeare/index.html

81
 WPEL VOLUME 26, ISSUE 2
for example, of social class, gender, ethnicity and age—we would see
the meanings of these categories not as pre-determined but as actively
constructed in social relationships themselves. (Buckingham & Sefton-
Green, 1994, p. 10)

Meyer’s Twilight franchise has spawned a proliferation of multimodal media

literacy practices through which an active audience continues to generate
discourses both collective and unique, traversing the identity categories mentioned
by Buckingham and Sefton-Green in surprising and intersectional ways. In
DGGLWLRQWRUHDGLQJWKHERRNVYLHZLQJWKHÀOPVDQGGLVFXVVLQJWKHP´WKHROG
fashioned way,” fans have created sophisticated web sites and well maintained
EORJV SUROLÀF IDQÀFWLRQV4 YouTube videos, online role-play communities, and
QHDUO\LQÀQLWH7ZLWWHUIHHGVDQG)DFHERRNFRPPHQWDU\0HDQZKLOH´WUDGLWLRQDOµ
media producers have provided Twilight video games, mounted conventions,5
dispatched generous news media attention, manufactured merchandise of every
imaginable shape and function, and even curated museum exhibits. I argue that
for young people, these texts, spaces and objects engender valuable out-of-school
learning experiences, while weaving the fabric of an emerging culturescape that
ought to be valued within the classroom as well.

$&XOWXUHRI3DUWLFLSDWLRQDQG&RQYHUJHQFH

Beyond their pedagogical or developmental value, these creative media

practices merit further attention, because they are the activities through which
audiences co-construct the meanings of “original” mass media artifacts, such as
the TwilightERRNVRUÀOPV7KHFRQWULEXWLQJYRLFHVRIWKHDXGLHQFHKDYHFRPHWR
LQÁXHQFHWKHVHPLRWLFOLIHDQGFROOHFWLYHPHPRU\RIWKHDUWLIDFWVVXFKWKDWWKH\
are not so much original as catalytic. The TwilightERRNVÀOPVDQGIDQZRUOGKDYH
become so systematically pervasive6 and so widely circulated7 that their characters
and stories have achieved a critical mass of recognizability in global popular
culture; a reference to the franchise invokes not only the plotlines of vampires
and werewolves, but the profusion of tabloid photos and web sites, images of
the rush to buy the next novel or get tickets for the next movie premiere, perhaps
even conversations one may have had with peers speculating upon the quality,
ideological underpinnings, or commercial explosion of media artifacts they have
not yet consumed themselves (even as they co-produce their semiotic value).
In fact, the term “audience” becomes problematic in all its presumed passivity.
Jenkins (2006; 2010) describes this kind of media climate as participatory culture:
4
)DQÀFWLRQLVGHÀQHGE\0HUULDP:HEVWHUFRPDVDVHWRI´VWRULHVLQYROYLQJSRSXODUÀFWLRQDOFKDU-
acters that are written by fans and often posted on the Internet.” The most active archive of online
IDQÀFWLRQ)DQÀFWLRQQHWFRQWDLQHGHQWULHVEDVHGRQWKHTwilight novels as of June 23, 2011.
5
´7ZL&RQµDQXQRIÀFLDOTwilight convention held in Dallas, TX, was reviewed by many fans as “an
epic fail” (Amber, 2009).
6
Starting in 2005, one book was released per year for four successive years, always made available in
UHODWLYHO\ORZFRVWSDSHUEDFNHGLWLRQVLPPHGLDWHO\VWDUWLQJLQRQHÀOPKDVODXQFKHGHDFK\HDU
ZKLFKZLOOFRQWLQXHXQWLOWKHIRXUWKERRNZLOOEHVSOLWLQWRWZRÀOPV
7
,Q WKH ÀUVW TXDUWHU RI  WKH VHULHV PRQRSROL]HG WKH WRS IRXU VORWV LQ KLJKHVW ERRN VDOHV DQG
FRPSULVHGRIDOOERRNVVROG'H%DUURV0HPPRWW 0LQ]HVKHLPHU7KHÀOPVKDYHEURNHQ
FRXQWOHVVER[RIÀFHUHFRUGV³DGYDQFHGWLFNHWVDOHVPLGQLJKWUHOHDVHVDOHVHWF³DQG'9'VDOHVKDYH
also broken opening-weekend records (summit-ent.com).

82
 VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, AND OTHER HUMANS

“We are moving away from a world in which some produce and many consume
media toward one in which everyone has a more active stake in the culture that
is produced” (Jenkins, 2010, p. 13). Mass-mediated cultural objects have always
been transformed through the uptake of their audiences, but the affordances of
new media and the internet allow audiences to match (and perhaps even exceed)
the level of media production that was formerly limited to corporations and other
institutions. The participatory responses to the Twilight series that will be examined
LQWKLVSDSHU³DOPRVWHQWLUHO\LQWHUQHWPHGLDWHG\HWUHVSRQGLQJWRSULQWDQGÀOP
texts of the “old media” ilk—exemplify the kind of convergence culture that co-
exists with Jenkins’ model of participation:

Consumers are using new media technologies to engage with old media
content, seeing the Internet as a vehicle for collective problem solving,
public deliberation, and grassroots creativity.... On all sides and at every
level, the term participation has emerged as a governing concept, albeit
RQHVXUURXQGHGE\FRQÁLFWLQJH[SHFWDWLRQV-HQNLQVS

$+LVWRU\RI&ULWLTXH

7KH´FRQÁLFWLQJH[SHFWDWLRQVµWRZKLFK-HQNLQVUHIHUVLQYROYHWKHFRPSHWLQJ
interests of consumers-cum-producers (i.e. the grassroots contingent) and the
corporate entities who would like to monetize their participation in the mass
media, whether through advertising, copyright licensing, or increased brand
recognition. This tension is not new, either; it lies at the heart of many appraisals
RIWKHPDVVPHGLDH[HPSOLÀHGE\WKH)UDQNIXUW6FKRRO·VSRVWZDUFULWLTXHVRIWKH
print media and television as mechanisms of control (cf. Adorno & Horkheimer,
0DUFXVH$WWLPHVWKHFRQÁLFWEHWZHHQWUDGLWLRQDOPHGLDSURGXFHUV
and the best interests of audiences has been framed by waves of “media panic,”
described by Burgess and Green (2009) in the context of public debates about
YouTube.8 These discourses generated largely by media outlets tend to stoke public
fears about the admixture of youth and mass-mediated popular culture, invoking
codes of morality and policing perceived youth rebellion with social norms.
While the Twilight SagaKDVUDUHO\FRPHXQGHUÀUHIRUHQFRXUDJLQJVXEYHUVLRQ³
indeed, its ideological underpinnings afford it an image as particularly “safe” and
prim—Burgess and Green’s discussion illuminates much of the public debate
about the ethics of representation in Twilight. Media panics, like the Frankfurt
School’s outcry against capitalist brainwashing, invoke codes of ethics, but Burgess
and Green (2009) argue that “the ethics of participating in YouTube,” or, I would
argue, any new media platform, “should not be reduced to making judgments
about whether or not pre-determined moral standards are being lived up to” ( p.
21). Rather than a mode of critique or moral enforcement, Burgess and Green’s
approach to the media artifacts on YouTube operates on an understanding of ethics
DV´WKHIUHHGRPDQGFDSDFLW\WRDFWUHÁH[LYHO\³WKDWLVWRWKLQNDERXWWKHHWKLFDO
implications of one’s own practice, and to formulate one’s actions based on this
ethical awareness, relative to a particular context” (p.21). Media producers are meant
to consider the potential impact of their work as it travels (ever more rapidly and
8
http://www.youtube.com, a highly popular video-sharing site.

83
 WPEL VOLUME 26, ISSUE 2

ÁXLGO\WKURXJKGLIIHUHQWVLWXDWLRQV%XUJHVVDQG*UHHQ·VHPSKDVLVRQUHÁH[LYLW\
and situated meanings speaks to the anthropological—rather than purely critical—
approach I will take in the inquiry that follows. This distinction hinges on seeing
media artifacts as discursive practices-in-context, as the documentation of forms of
participation, rather than as static, freestanding texts.
In light of the aforementioned participatory model increasingly at work in
new media platforms, I argue that the traditional “critical” approach to mass-
mediated popular culture misapprehends media artifacts such as the Twilight Saga
DVÀ[HGLVRODWHGWH[WVWKDWH[HUWDXQLODWHUDOHIIHFWRQFRQVXPHUV,QIDFWLWLVWKH
diversity of audience receptions (and participatory responses) that characterizes
pop culture in a new media context. Rymes (2011), also in the context of YouTube,
ÀQGVWKDW

No matter how massively produced and ubiquitously distributed a prod-

uct is—and no matter the degree of corporate sponsorship—any text con-
tains layers of semiotic value that are selected for differently by different
groups. Moreover, the more widely circulated and mass-produced a semiotic
form is, the more highly diverse the interactions with it will be. (p. 2, emphasis
original)

Tracing a particular music video (“Crank Dat” by Souja Boy) through all of its re-
inventions across YouTube, Rymes demonstrates how different semiotic layers of the
“original” video are lost or added in each recontextualization. Likewise, the aggregate
meaning of the “original” grows and changes for viewers that become familiar with
LWVOHJDF\RIVSLQRIIV$V,ZLOOH[SORUHZLWKVSHFLÀFH[DPSOHVODWHURQWKHDUUD\RI
participatory responses to the Twilight VHULHV UHÁHFWV DQG HQDFWV WKH PXOWLWXGH RI
meanings that a mass-mediated cultural object comes to bear across contexts.
This perspective alleviates some of the Frankfurt-esque anxiety about
corporate interests and social reproduction—that powerful, centralized media
outputs disseminate uniform messages across the passive masses—but addressing
recontextualization does not account for the question of media ethics, even in its
PRUHÁH[LEOHRUUHÁH[LYHGHÀQLWLRQDVDUWLFXODWHGE\%XUJHVVDQG*UHHQ
Jenkins (2010) confronts the other side of media recontextualization: “Culture
travels easily, but the individuals who initially produced and consumed such
culture are not always welcome everywhere it circulates” (p. 98). From his
SHUVSHFWLYH WKH SURFHVV RI UDSLG DQG ÁXLG FLUFXODWLRQ RI PHGLD DUWLIDFWV GRHV
not lead to the gradual erasure of cultural difference—the McDonaldization of
culture (Ritzer, 1993)—but rather “ensures that we will be provoked by cultural
difference. Little about this process ensures that we will develop an understanding
of the contexts within which these different cultural communities operate” (p. 98).
That is why, alongside his championing of participatory culture, Jenkins supports
media literacy advocacy, a decades-old movement to educate the public, and
especially young people, about “the ways media representations structure our
perceptions of the world...the motives and goals that shape the media we consume,
and alternative practices that operate outside the commercial mainstream” (p.
31). He sees the traditional role of media literacy education—teaching youth to
deconstruct media stereotypes of race, gender, class, religion, and other forms of
cultural difference—as eminently valuable, and perhaps even more important, in
the age of new media and its attendant participatory culture. When young people

84
 VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, AND OTHER HUMANS

themselves become media producers, he argues, they should be able to recognize

when the content they produce may perpetuate stereotypes or get misinterpreted
in diverse contexts.

0HGLD/LWHUDF\(GXFDWLRQ

There exists a large and growing body of literature on media literacy education
(MLE)—sometimes identifying itself in the camp of Critical Media Literacy, and
other times maintaining the neutral masthead of Media Literacy with the term
´FULWLFDOµVSULQNOHGWKURXJKRXWLWVGHÀQLWLRQDQGWLHGWRLWVLPSRUWFI$OYHUPDQQ
& Hagood, 2000; Kafai & Peppler, 2011; Kellner & Share, 2005; Koltay, 2011;
/LYLQJVWRQH7KHPDMRUSURIHVVLRQDORUJDQL]DWLRQGHGLFDWHGWRWKHÀHOGLQWKH
United States,9 the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE),
GHÀQHVmedia literacy as “a series of communication competencies, including the
DELOLW\ WR$&&(66$1$/<=( (9$/8$7( DQG &20081,&$7( LQIRUPDWLRQ
in a variety of forms, including print and non-print messages.... It is the skillful
application of literacy skills to media and technology messages” (NAMLE, 2011,
QS7KLVGHÀQLWLRQFRPHVZLWKDQDGGLWLRQDOHOHPHQWWKDWVSHDNVWRRWKHU´FULWLFDOµ
dimensions of the MLE agenda: “Media literacy empowers people to be both
critical thinkers and creative producers of an increasingly wide range of messages
using image, language, and sound” (NAMLE, 2011, np). Echoing Jenkins’ paean
to the participatory culture in which all media consumers think like, act like, and
arePHGLDSURGXFHUV1$0/(·VVWDWHPHQWUHDIÀUPVWKHLPSRUWDQFHRIGLVVHPEOLQJ
media artifacts to understand what intentions and ideologies may have gone into
their construction.
The other half of this statement, to “empower...critical thinkers,” begs the
question of what exactly an “empowered” critical thinker does, even of what it
means to be “critical.” In the humanities and social sciences, the word “critical”
can be (recontextualized as) loaded with associations to critical theory, Marxism,
DQGLQWKHVSHFLÀFGLVFLSOLQHRIHGXFDWLRQ)UHLULDQDSSURDFKHVDQG&ULWLFDO/LWHUDF\
theorists. In other words, the term “critical” is often invoked to index a particular
political ideology—for whatever reason, this is often a leftist ideology—as the source
of critique. Regardless of one’s political stance, these associations can blur or betray
the discourses of participatory media makers. They can also detract from MLE’s real
potential to make new meanings and cultivate thoughtful, independent-minded
media makers. Moreover, the nature of producing a text with an explicit critique-
based orientation implies that there is a discrete originary text against which the
critique is being leveled. The notion of critique becomes problematic in the context
of participatory culture, where contributions from “readers” of texts are integral to
an ever-transforming web of meanings associated with the supposed “original,”
and where debates are not linear or back-and-forth but aggregate.
Participatory voices are not necessarily oppositional, but can be, and can be
political or politicized, but don’t have to be—but, they often live up to the other
9
Other major MLE organizations include the Media Education Foundation (http://www.mediaed.
org/wp/about-mefZKLFKSURGXFHVGRFXPHQWDU\ÀOPVWRWHDFKPHGLDOLWHUDF\DQGWKH,QWHUQDWLRQDO
Media Literacy Research Forum, whose goal is “To provide a platform for professional researchers,
policy-makers/regulators and practitioners from across the world to share knowledge and expertise in
WKHÀHOGRIPHGLDOLWHUDF\µhttp://www.imlrf.org/united-states).

85
 WPEL VOLUME 26, ISSUE 2

half of NAMLE’s dictum that consumers think like designers. The internet has
proliferated a rich tradition of satire, parody, irony, and countless other techniques
of transforming discourse through humor or creativity (Willett, 2009), all forms of
media autonomy. I would venture that what MLE proponents really seek to instill in
students is not necessarily criticality, or the ability to critique, but rather UHÁH[LYLW\:
the possibility of engaging with a text in full awareness of its constructed, socially
situated, and mutable nature. In the terminology of linguistic anthropology, this
kind of engagement would constitute a metapragmatic discourse (Agha, 2007), one
that not only does something in the world but that talks about what discourses
do in the world—thereby participating in the construction of what that discourse
means to the world.

+LVWRULHVRI5HSUHVHQWDWLRQ

7KHVSHFLDOFDVHRIUHÁH[LYHPHWDSUDJPDWLFGLVFRXUVHWKDWFURSSHGXSDURXQG
the Twilight Saga involved talk about how its cast of characters represents racial,
ethnic, and cultural categories. As we will see, the multifarious participatory voices
surrounding Twilight invoke ongoing debates related to issues of representation
in the media, often taking these conversations in new directions. Certain ways
of representing the identities of and dynamics between characters—especially
along the axes of race, gender, and class—are often seen as shaping the beliefs
and stereotypes that audiences posses about others, and importantly, themselves
(Ewen & Ewen, 2006). Likewise, these modes of representation can have a real
LPSDFW RQ WKH OLYHG H[SHULHQFHV RI SHRSOH ZKR LGHQWLI\ ZLWK RU JHW LGHQWLÀHG
as, the social types being represented. For the purposes of this paper, the historic
practice of racializing and (mis)representing Native Americans in the mass media
is particularly salient. Because identity work is always intersectional, such images
are also built from representations of gender, class, and culture.
Focusing on race for a moment, it is worth mentioning the practice of
racebending10 in the context of this discussion. This term refers to the practice of
casting an actor with different phenotypic traits than those of his or her character,
and adjusting for the difference with makeup, hairstyling, suntanning, etc.
Typically white actors would be cast to play people of color, such as Daniel Day
Louis in Last of the Mohicans (Mann, Lowry, & Robinson, 1992) or any number
RIZKLWHDFWRUVZKRZRUH´EODFNIDFHµLQXQIRUWXQDWHÀOPLFPRFNHULHVRI$IULFDQ
Americans. These practices were much more common in decades past, but it is
important to note how and when they persist.
For example, when Taylor Lautner was cast to play the primary Quileute
character in the Twilight Saga, Jacob Black, his resume described him as having
European heritage. The rest of the actors who were eventually cast to play Quileute
UROHV KDG GLUHFW DIÀOLDWLRQV ZLWK )LUVW 1DWLRQV RU LQGLJHQRXV$PHULFDQ JURXSV³
despite tabloid speculation that further racebending would occur to include better-
NQRZQQDPHVRQWKHURVWHU$WVRPHSRLQWGXULQJWKHÀOPLQJRIThe Twilight Saga:
New Moon, the following question was posed to Lautner: “Some people have said
things about this being an Indian character and you’re not Indian, are you?” To
which he responded, “I have some Native American in my distant background”
(Murray, 2008). During another interview around the same time at Comic-Con in
10
cf. http://www.racebending.com

86
 VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, AND OTHER HUMANS

San Diego, CA, Lautner was asked a similar question and described his genealogical
discovery with a bit more detail: “:HOHDUQHGWKDWWKURXJK>SUHSDULQJIRU@WKLVÀOP
I’m French, Dutch and German, and on my mother’s side, she has some Potawatomi
and Ottawa Indian in her” (Carroll, 2008). Whether Lautner’s ethnic makeup is
considered specious or merely a fair-weather reference, he has positioned himself
in a liminal space with respect to racebending; he is not culturally Native American,
EXW LGHQWLÀHV DV³SDUWLDOO\³racially Native American.11 This distinction ends up
having different value for different kinds of fans and other participatory voices. It
also demonstrates the awareness of Lautner, and possibly the production team of
the Twilight SagaÀOPVWKDWWKHUHZRXOGEHDUHÁH[LYHLQWHUURJDWLRQRIKRZ4XLOHXWH
characters were being portrayed, and by whom.

%H\RQG5DFH

Along these lines, emblems and traits other than the race-bent skin of Native
American people have been noted as recurring features in media representations:
colorful feather headdresses and other inaccurate but recognizable forms of
exotic dress, a stylized terseness of speaking similar to that of the Tarzan comic
book character, alternatively a violent and unpredictable hostility or the pastoral
contentment of living in harmony with nature. The Media Awareness Network, an
online resource for media and digital literacies based in Canada, observes that “the
new climate of ‘political correctness’ has combined with a genuine effort to counter
VRPHRIWKHPRUHRYHUWIRUPVRIUDFLVPLQÀOPVDQGWHOHYLVLRQ³EXWVXEWOHYHVWLJHV
of Native stereotyping still remain” (Media Awareness Network, 2010). Their page
on “Common Portrayals of Aboriginal People” categorizes four types of “common
stereotyping traps” that they see persisting in the media: romanticization (through
stock characters such as Indian princesses, Native warriors, and noble savages),
historical inaccuracies, stereotyping by omission (especially omission from participation
in contemporary life), and simplistic characterization. Some of the stock characters they
point to are the wise elder in Little Big Man (Millar & Penn, 1970), the drunk in Tom
Sawyer (Lighton & Cromwell, 1930), and Tonto, the loyal sidekick of The Lone Ranger
DÀOPDQGWHOHYLVLRQFKDUDFWHUGDWLQJEDFNWRZKRVWLOOPDNHVDSSHDUDQFHVRQ
reruns). The web site notes that Aboriginals are “the only population to be portrayed
far more often in historical context than as contemporary people” (Media Awareness
Network, 2010). Some fans believe that this stereotyping trap, the sealing-off of
Native individuals and culture in a romanticized, bygone era, is one stereotyping
trap that was decisively avoided in the Twilight series; other participatory voices
IDQVRUQRWKDYHDFFXVHG6WHSKHQLH0H\HUDQGWKHGLUHFWRUVRIWKHÀOPDGDSWDWLRQV
of one or more of the “stereotyping traps” listed above, among others. I will address
these responses in more detail shortly.
The chorus of critiques of these Hollywood tropes emerged long before the
Twilight Saga came on the scene (cf. Churchill, 1995; Howard, 1970; Kinkaid,
1992). However, it appears that Meyer’s series has renewed and expanded this
11
3HUKDSVRYHUGXHLVDUHÁHFWLRQRQP\XVHRIWKHWHUP´1DWLYH$PHULFDQµLQWKLVDQDO\VLVLQHQJDJ-
LQJWKHKLVWRU\RIVWHUHRW\SLÀFDWLRQDQGUDFLDOL]DWLRQWKURXJKPHGLDUHSUHVHQWDWLRQVDQGRWKHUVRFLR-
political factors), I refer to the constructed category as such, realizing (perhaps even emphasizing) that
it is a generalizing and less-preferred label for a diverse array of cultures, ethnicities, and languages
indigenous to the North American continent. I have attempted to refer to the particular heritage group,
such as Quileute, when appropriate.

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 WPEL VOLUME 26, ISSUE 2

conversation—or at least stands as prominently co-present with it. One recent

example in this branch of participatory culture is a video called “Native American
Actors” produced by Multinesia, a small media production company that supports
DQG JHQHUDWHV ÀOPV E\ LQGLJHQRXV SHRSOHV ZRUOGZLGH 0XOWLQHVLD  7KLV
particular video was created for the Screen Actors Guild Presidential Task Force for
American Indians,12 emphasizing the positive promotion of contemporary Native
$PHULFDQDFWRUVRYHUWKHQHJDWLYHSURPRWLRQRUGHPRWLRQRIÀOPVWKDWH[FOXGH
or objectify them. In the video, uploaded to YouTube March 11, 2011, a series
of actors from different Native American communities describe their personal
histories of arriving to and working in the entertainment industry. Some describe
the frustration of starting out getting typecast into “token Indian” roles, others
GHVFULEHWKHGLIÀFXOW\RIHDUO\OLIHRQDUHVHUYDWLRQDQGVHYHUDOGLVFXVVWKHRYHUODS
between the storytelling traditions of their Native cultures and the art of dramatic
VWRU\WHOOLQJWKH\SUDFWLFHDVDWHOHYLVLRQRUÀOPDFWRU%XWWKHHPHUJLQJVHQVHWKH
YLGHRJLYHVLVWKDWWKHUHLVDJURZLQJIRRWKROGIRU1DWLYH$PHULFDQDFWRUVLQÀOP
and television; from this perspective, the Twilight Saga can be seen as problematic
if it is perceived as (re)producing media stereotypes about Native Americans, but
it can also be seen as a platform that launched the careers of nearly a dozen Native
American actors.

,QWHUVHFWLRQDO,GHQWLWLHV*HQGHU &ODVV

Thus, the Twilight ERRNV DQG ÀOPV VWDQG EHIRUH D FUHVWLQJ KLVWRU\ RI GHEDWH
over representations of Native Americans in the media, but it is important to
observe how factors beyond race and culture—namely gender and class—also
operationalize these axes of representation. For example, some have argued
that the Twilight books should be shelved not in the Young Adult section or the
Sci-Fi/Fantasy section of bookstores, as they usually are, but in the Romance
section (Miller, 2008). The basis of this argument is that the series’ core plotline
plays squarely into the literary trope of an innocent and pretty—but otherwise
unremarkable—young female who meets a superhero-caliber male hero who falls
desperately in love with her simply because he wishes to protect her. This is the
JHQHUDOWUDMHFWRU\RIPRVWPDVVPHGLDURPDQFHQRYHOVDQG9LFWRULDQJRWKLFQRYHOV
0LOOHU  ,Q IDFW DOO RI WKH VFKRODUO\ OLWHUDWXUH WKDW , FRXOG ÀQG RQ 0H\HUV·
Twilight books to date came from a Gender Studies perspective (cf. Bode, 2010;
Fleur, 2011; Kokkola, 2010), focusing heavily on the gendered dynamics and
sexuality of Bella’s and Edward’s characters—without considering the extreme
masculinization and sexualization of the Native American male characters.
It is worth noting that these scholarly voices, in response to the Twilight series,
have discussed gender without acknowledging that they are discussing a certain
kind of gender—an implicitly racialized set of gender norms. Their critique does
not encompass the intersections of Native American and gendered identities,
which interact in the construction of characters (and the stereotypes generated).
Similarly, socioeconomic class is an important ingredient in the total image of
Quileute-ness built by the Twilight Saga—the meager means of the LaPush families
contrasts with the stylish opulence of the paper-white Cullen family; the Quileute
reservation is depicted as remote from Forks, WA through marginalization, and
12
http://www.sag.org/content/american-indian-task-force

88
 VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, AND OTHER HUMANS

the Cullen home as remote through wealth. The elements of class and gender in
media representations are easily overlooked amid the more vocal debates about
highly explicit emblems of Native American stereotypes such as race and cultural
REMHFWVDOWKRXJKWKH\DUHDOVRLPSRUWDQWFRPSRQHQWVRIDUHÁH[LYHDVVHVVPHQWRI
the Twilight texts.

0HWKRGV

Now that I have laid out some of the historical and topical dimensions of
analyzing Native American representations in the media at large, I will give a brief
word on my approach to the forthcoming analysis of the Twilight Saga in particular.
Burgess & Green (2009) expertly sift through the complex issues presented by
an overwhelmingly large pool of potential data, attempting to characterize the
mass-mediated phenomenon that is YouTube.13 To dissect their methodological
orientation in terms of discipline, their approach is at once a historical, Media
Studies, Cultural Studies, sociological, journalistic, and Comparative Literature
hybrid. I have attempted to mimic their catholic approach, thus far romping
through historical, Media Studies and Cultural Studies perspectives. I will go on
to synthesize the media practices and discourses of Twilight commentators into a
discussion that, I hope, will allow them to tell their own story to a greater degree
than a loaded “critical” approach would. I began with broad, exploratory internet
searches for any joint mention of Twilight and “Quileute” or “Native American.”
I have included most of what I found in these searches and the hyperlinked trails
they sent me down, roughly grouping responses according to their stance with
respect to representations of Native Americans in the franchise. Finally, I will take
a look at the current events involving stakeholders in this network, to explore how
participatory discourses about pop culture may have a real bearing on everyday
OLIHIRUSHRSOHLQWKHZRUOG0\FRQFOXVLRQZLOOUHÁHFWRQKRZWKHVHF\FOHVRIWH[W
DQGFRQWH[WPHGLDSURGXFWLRQDQGUHDFWLRQWKURXJKSURGXFWLRQPD\ÀWLQWRWKH
realm of Media Literacy Education. In these ways, I hope to strike something close
to a balance between a youthy—or anthropological, practice-focused—approach
and an educationy—or top-down, text-focused—approach to mass-mediated
popular culture (Rymes, 2011). In the spirit of convergence culture (Jenkins, 2006), I
also intend to distribute my attention somewhat evenly between traditional media
“producers”—Stephenie Meyer and those responsible for the TwilightÀOPV³DQG
participatory audience receptions, reactions, and recontextualizations.

$QDO\VLV3DUWLFLSDWRU\6WDQFHV

3XUH)DQGRP7KH)DFH9DOXH6WDQFH

The most ubiquitous kind of a response to representations of Native Americans

in the Twilight VHULHV LV DQ H[WHQVLRQ RU UHLÀFDWLRQ RI ZKDW H[LVWV LQ WKH ERRNV
DQG ÀOPV :KDW , ZLOO FDOO IDFHYDOXH VWDQFHV DUH QRW XQLYHUVDOO\ XQUHÁH[LYH DV
a rule, but they appear to laminate, or collapse, depictions of Native Americans
in Twilight and the identities of real Native American individuals in the world. In
13
In contrast to Willett’s (2009) deliberately non-representative sampling of parodic practices on
YouTube.

89
 WPEL VOLUME 26, ISSUE 2

line with my earlier discussion of Buckingham & Sefton-Green (1994), as well as

such perspectives as Black’s (2008) on the value of popular culture for writers of
IDQÀFWLRQ,EHOLHYH WKDW WKH OLWHUDF\ SUDFWLFHVVXUURXQGLQJIDQGRPDQGSRSXODU
FXOWXUH DUH LQKHUHQWO\ YDOXDEOH³ZLWK RU ZLWKRXW UHÁH[LYH VWDQFHV %XW LQ WKH
context of this inquiry, there is a difference between the kind of participatory voice
that interrogates modes of representation for the impact they may have in different
contexts, and the kind of response that takes the representations in the Twilight
series for granted, accepting them at face value.
The latter involves less of what Jenkins (2010) calls simulation: “the ability
to interpret and construct dynamic models of real-world processes” (p. 41). He
counts this as one of the core concepts for media education in the 21st century;
D ÀUP JUDVS RI VLPXODWLRQ PDNHV DQ DXGLHQFH PHPEHU WKLQN OLNH D GHVLJQHU
imagining alternative scenarios and possible outcomes of design choices. In
the case of TwilightWKHPHGLDREMHFWEHLQJGHVLJQHGLVODUJHO\DÀFWLRQDOZRUOG
populated by characters, and the choices that go into constructing those characters
have consequences beyond the page or screen that may go unnoticed by face-value
participants, who admire (or deride) the face of the thing without looking to what
ideas lie behind it in the brain or what impact the limbs are making in the world.
Many of these face-value responses are the pure stuff of fandom, that which
has made Twilight a pop cultural phenomenon of historic proportions. Countless
blogs and web sites exist in honor of the franchise, not to mention YouTube fan
videos and digital artworks of various forms—too many to hone down and cite
here.14 Many of these sites serve as news sources for other fans, chronicling any
piece of text, image, sound, or video that has to do with a fan’s favorite character(s)
or the franchise writ large. On one of these sites, I found a radio interview15
with Chaske Spencer, who plays an important supporting role in the Quileute
“wolfpack”; the DJ-interviewers on this show seem to epitomize the face-value
UHVSRQVH E\ À[DWLQJ RQ KRZ ´PDQO\µ 6SHQFHU LV LQ YDULRXV UHVSHFWV IURP KLV
sixpack to the innate “manliness” of werewolves over vampires (neither of which
LV KXPDQ LQ WKH LQWHUQDO ORJLF RI 6WHSKHQLH 0H\HU·V ÀFWLRQDO ZRUOG EXW ERWK RI
which get coded anthropomorphically, as evidenced here). Spencer plays along
and responds often with laughter, at once embarrassed and amused. He defends
his co-star Robert Pattinson’s “manliness” (and six-pack) during the course of the
conversation, an interesting move that shines a light on how fetishized his own,
and his character’s, masculine qualities are within the overall associations attached
to Quileute werewolves in Twilight, in comparison with non-Quileute characters.
Another face-value response comes, surprisingly or not, from a self-proclaimed
and notable critic—A. O. Scott, the New York Times ÀOPUHYLHZHU6FRWWZRUNVLQD
WUDGLWLRQRIÀOPFULWLFLVPWKDWSD\VVSHFLDODWWHQWLRQWRDHVWKHWLFDQGQDUUDWRORJLFDO
concerns, which sometimes but not always attends to the sociopolitical impacts of
those conventions. Contrasting the relationship of Bella and Edward in the New
Moon ÀOP WR ´WKH VOLJKWO\ PRUH FRQYHQWLRQDO PDPPDOLDQ PDWFK EHWZHHQ %HOOD
and Jacob” (Scott, 2010), Scott ventriloquates the animalization of Jacob’s character
in a neutral manner. He goes on:

14
*RRJOHWKHZRUG´7ZLOLJKWµDQG\RXZLOOÀQGWKDWWKHÀUVWHQWU\QRWUHODWHGWR0H\HU·VERRNVRU
ÀOPVGRHVQ·WDSSHDUXQWLOWKHHQGRIWKHWKLUGSDJH
15
http:\www.twilightlexicon.com\2010\09\09\goom-radio-interviews-chaske-spencer\

90
 VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, AND OTHER HUMANS
Jacob makes a pretty strong case, both that he is more suitable for Bella
—“With me, it would be as easy as breathing,” he says — and, more bold-
ly, that she really wants him, even if she can’t admit as much to herself.
And while there are the usual arguments about which of these guys is
better able to protect Bella, what is really at stake is each one’s theoretical
ability to satisfy her. (Scott, 2010)

He notes the elements of simplicity and carnal sexuality in Jacob’s character—

DUJXDEO\ HOHPHQWV RI VWHUHRW\SLÀFDWLRQ DFFRUGLQJ WR WKH 0HGLD $ZDUHQHVV
Network’s rubric. Jacob’s recurring emphasis on physical contact and sexual
desire contrasts markedly with Edward’s Edwardian-era16 ideals of abstinence
before marriage. This dynamic is linked to Stephenie Meyer’s Mormon faith, and
can be recontextualized in a number of ways when the exemplary chaste character
is white (not just Caucasian, but literally quite pale as an attribute of his vampire
VWDWXVDQGWKH&DVDQRYDÀJXUHLVSRUWUD\HGDV1DWLYH$PHULFDQ)XUWKHUPRUH
Jacob’s character serves simultaneously as the most prominent representative
of the Quileute Nation and the sore loser in the central love plot, incapable of
truly “satisfying” Bella. Scott’s commentary is a good example of a stance that
reproduces modes of representation that start in Meyer’s book, transform into
OLYHDFWLRQ VFHQHV LQ WKH ÀOP DQG DUH QRW WUDQVIRUPHG DQ\ IXUWKHU E\ KLV IDFH
value reading of them.

&ODVVLF&ULWLTXH7KH2SSRVLWLRQDO6WDQFH

To counter A. O. Scott’s review of New Moon, situated as it is in the comfort (or

FRQÀQHVRIWKHPDLQVWUHDPQHZVPHGLDDEORJFDOOHGAmerican Indians in Children’s
Literature demonstrates the classic critical stance described earlier in this paper.
Debbie Reese, the blog’s author and a member of the Nambe Pueblo tribe in New
Mexico, writes of watching the New Moon ÀOP ZLWK KHU GDXJKWHU ´6LWWLQJ QH[W
to each other in the dark, we heckled, rolled our eyes, and laughed in the wrong
parts. Not wanting to draw the ire of others in the theater, we weren’t obnoxious.
We kept our critiques relatively quiet” (Reese, 2009). Reese points to the factual
liberties taken with Quileute knowledge as a prime source of her annoyance, as well
as the racialization of the werewolves and their Quileute human halves: “I don’t
recommend the [Twilight@ERRNVRUWKHÀOPIRUPDQ\UHDVRQV2IFRXUVH,PDNH
that statement based on the Native content of them, but there are other reasons as
well. This is a good analysis: Running With the Wolves—A Racialicious Reading
of the Twilight Saga”17 (Reese, 2009). Reese articulates frustration—common
throughout the oppositional responses I found—with representations of Quileute
cultural history made by non-Natives with liberal doses of misinformation and
racial stereotyping. This participatory stance importantly connects these modes of
representation with the reality of social inequality and racism in the lives of Native
American peoples.
5HHVH·VFULWLTXHFRXSOHGZLWKWKHRULJLQDOWH[WVRUÀOPVFUHDWHVDQHZEXQGOH
of meanings that demonstrates how these (mis)representations come to exist and
16
He became a vampire age 17, some 108 years prior, trapping him at that age forever.
17  
The “Racialicious” blog post Reese references is also a key exemplar of the classic critical stance.
(http://www.racialicious.com/2009/11/26/running-with-the-wolves-a-racialicious-reading-of-the-
twilight-saga/#more-4336)

91
 WPEL VOLUME 26, ISSUE 2

UHSURGXFH3HUKDSVRQWKHFRQWUDU\VKHVKRXOGUHFRPPHQGWKHERRNVDQGÀOPVWR
DOORIKHUIULHQGVDVORQJDVWKH\DUHFRXSOHGZLWKUHÁH[LYHFRQYHUVDWLRQVDERXW
representation that equip young people to problematize the face-value readings
prevalent around them.
The Native American Legal Update, an online resource for “current legal
GHYHORSPHQWVµ *XHGHO  UXQ E\ D ODZ ÀUP WKDW VSHFLDOL]HV LQ 1DWLYH
American issues, responded similarly to the release of New Moon—the chapter of
the Twilight Saga in which werewolves are introduced. A long and biting post titled
“New Moon—old stereotypes?” (Guedel, 2009) touches on racebending, blatant
inaccuracies in representing Quileute myths, the tension surrounding a potential
interracial relationship between Bella and Jacob, and the ubiquitous bare chests of
the wolfpack:

-DFRE VSHQGV D JRRG SRUWLRQ RI WKH ÀOP ZLWKRXW D VKLUW LQ DFFRUGDQFH
with the longstanding cinematic stereotype that Indigenous people like to
forego clothes—even in chilly Forks, which has nearly the highest annual
rainfall on the continent. Alas, Jacob and Bella’s powerful but tortuous
attraction to each other cannot truly be requited—because unlike those
of Native communities, the cultural traditions of Hollywood must be re-
spected. (Guedel, 2009, np)

,QWHUHVWLQJO\ HQRXJK WKH FRPPHQWV EHORZ WKLV UHYLHZ UHÁHFW D PL[WXUH

of approval and disagreement with this kind of critical stance. A commenter
named Derrick states: “First off. I’m Native.18 Born and raised on a reservation in
0LQQHVRWD,·PDQGLHQMR\WKLVVHULHV,ZRXOGDOVREHWKHÀUVWWRSXWWKHPRQ
blast if they hit a nerve in stereotypes or any other negative depiction” (Derrick,
2009, np). He goes on to justify the shirtlessness of the wolfpack (their high body
KHDWSDUWRIWKHUXOHVRI0H\HU·VÀFWLRQDOZRUOGDVZHOODVWKHVLPSOHIDFWWKDW
their clothes rip apart whenever they “phase” or shapeshift into wolves), defends
their status not as mere savage beasts but as nearly invincible protectors of
their tribe, and hails the innocence (rather than the fetishization) of the story’s
interracial relationship. Several successive comments agree with Derrick’s retort.
'HUULFN DIÀUPV KLV FDSDFLW\ IRU UHÁH[LYLW\ DQG GHPRQVWUDWHV LW LQ KLV FRPPHQW
on how an interracial relationship could have been portrayed otherwise), but also
HPEUDFHVWKHÀFWLRQDOFRQWH[WLQZKLFKWKHERRNVDQGÀOPVRSHUDWH7KLVLVWKH
kind of fan-generated embrace of simulation that Reese’s protective critical stance
must contend with.
Several comments later in the chain, participants with usernames such as
“concerned” or “Yes We Can” question the blitheness of Derrick and the other
counter-critical responders. “Concerned” writes:

´,WLVJUHDWWRVHH1DWLYHSHRSOHLQVXFKDEORFNEXVWHUÀOPµ5HDOO\",V
WKDWUHDOO\WKHEHVWZHFDQKRSHIRULQ":HFDQ·WDVNIRUGLJQLÀHG
UHSUHVHQWDWLRQVZHVKRXOGMXVWEHVDWLVÀHGWKDW1DWLYHSHRSOHDUHPHUHO\
LQWKHÀOP"+HUH·VDIDFW³WKHORQJHU\RX·UHZLOOLQJWRWROHUDWHXQGLJQL-
ÀHGWUHDWPHQWWKHORQJHU\RX·UHJRLQJWRJHWLW&RQFHUQHGQS

18
It is worth noting that Greg Guedel, who wrote the article and presides over the Native American
Legal Update blog, is not Native American.

92
 VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, AND OTHER HUMANS

Already we can see the kind of dialoguing that occurs in online participatory
debates—voices advance competing discourses with which to recontextualize the
object in question, in this case the Twilight series, so that their re-imagined semiotic
bundle wins out as the authoritative reading. But inevitably, the semiotic layers
contributed or stripped by different participants shape the full meaning of a mass-
mediated cultural artifact. Readers who have come to this site to read Guedel’s
critique will also be exposed to the other voices in the comments (if they read that
far), all of which contribute to their understanding of Twilight in the context of
their own experience.
7KH FULWLFDO VWDQFH ZKLFK PD\ WDNH LWV REMHFW RI FULWLFLVP DV D À[HG HQWLW\
and therefore a threat, sometimes swells to a position better described as the
outraged stance. In the February edition of a newsletter called Native Village Youth
and Education News, the featured story is a call to action titled “Native Americans
Outraged over Twilightµ 1DWLYH 9LOODJH  7KH DXWKRU UHODWHV WKH GLVPD\
of Native Americans over the rumored casting decisions for New Moon. At the
time, a well regarded young Apache actor, Solomon Trimble, had recently been
dropped from his role as Sam Uley without much explanation to the public. The
newsletter’s author explains, “Sam Uley’s character has been re-posted onto the
Hollywood-casting breakdown, and it is obvious that Hollywood is now looking
for a more marketable teen heartthrob celebrity actor to play the more substantial
DQGYHU\GHVLUDEOHSDUWµ1DWLYH9LOODJH19 The article takes a highly critical
stance of Taylor Lautner’s dubious “discovery” of distant Native American blood,
dismissing the relevance of the discovery even if it were true. That a Filipino
DFWUHVV 9DQHVVD +XGJHQV RI High School Musical fame (Schain & Ortega, 2006),
was being considered for the only prominent female Quileute role was also found
deeply insulting as another example of racebending and exclusion. Given its
particular timing, this newsletter provides insight into the kind of critique that
could have been more prevalent had the directors of the Twilight Saga not made
such a concerted effort (or strategic decision) in the end to cast (almost) all Native
American actors in the Quileute roles.
This “classic” critical narrative of the casting process, like Reese’s
precautionary blog post, plays its own role in reshaping the media culture
getting produced. In a participatory model of cultural production, convergence
occurs not only between “old” and “new” media platforms, but also between
texts and events. Whether or not this newsletter affected the casting choices
WKDW ZHUH HYHQWXDOO\ PDGH LW UHÁH[LYHO\ UHFDVW WKH DFWLRQV RI WKH ÀOPPDNHUV
into a debate about social justice and representation. For all those who did read
the newsletter, these issues have become a part of what Twilight means—and
PRYLQJIRUZDUGWKH\PD\UHÁH[LYHO\WUDQVIRUPIXWXUHPHGLDREMHFWVRIWKHLU
own or others’ making) in similar fashion.
-HVVH:HQWHD&DQDGLDQDERULJLQDOÀOPFXUDWRUDQGFULWLFZURWHDEORJSRVW
FRPSDULQJ 1HZ 0RRQ WR -DPHV &DPHURQ·V EORFNEXVWHU ÀOP Avatar (Cameron
/DQGDXIRULWVUHSUHVHQWDWLRQRILQGLJHQRXVÀJXUHV+HGHVFULEHVKRZ
ZDWFKLQJWKHVHÀOPV´EURXJKWEDFNVRPHRIWKHHPRWLRQV>KH@IHOWZKHQUHYLVLWLQJ
ÀOPVIURPGHFDGHVSDVWµ:HQWH+HWDNHVKLV´FODVVLFµFULWLTXHEH\RQG
19
The actor eventually cast to replace Trimble was Chaske Spencer, who grew up on several
reservations and who has gone on to become a staunch advocate of the Twilight Saga for its support of
Native American actors and deviation from Native American stereotypes.

93
 WPEL VOLUME 26, ISSUE 2

the staple critiques of Native representations—visual, physical, and cultural

emblems—and further into the postcolonial realm:

0RUHZRUULVRPHWKDQDJURXSRIVKLUWOHVVÁH[LQJ1DWLYHPHQLVWKHRULJL-
nal conceit of the treaty signed between the Quileute and the vampires.
While the violation of the treaty is at the centre of the story the narrative
never makes an allegorical connection with the history of treaty rights in
North America. (Wente, 2010)

Wente goes on to interpret the treaty—an agreement made after a 19th century
encounter between the Cullen family and a group of Quileutes, stipulating that the
vampire coven could remain in Forks if it hunted animals instead of humans. The
WUHDW\DOVREDQQHGYDPSLUHVIURPHQWHULQJ/D3XVKODQGQRZDQRIÀFLDOUHVHUYDWLRQ
LQ UHDO DQG ÀFWLRQDO OLIH LQ UHWXUQ IRU WKHLU H[HPSWLRQ IURP GHDWK E\ ZHUHZROI
Wente argues that by “suggesting a treaty between the two, Twilight has the effect
RI ÀFWLRQDOL]LQJ 1DWLYH SHRSOH DQG WKHLU KLVWRU\ ,Q GRLQJ VR Twilight absolves
much of American history of its treatment of Native people—after all, they’re the
VDPHDVYDPSLUHVµ:HQWH:HQWH·VDUJXPHQWLVUHÁH[LYHRQPDQ\OHYHOVKH
considers the sociopolitical impact of the Twilight narrative as it has been designed,
and imagines alternate scenarios that could have been included.
However, this outraged stance reaches some limits by treating the Twilight
Saga as a unilateral semiotic force that cannot be altered by other voices or in new
contexts. Meyer’s texts are somewhat immune to accusations about factuality20
EHFDXVH WKH\ URRW WKHPVHOYHV ÀUPO\ LQ WKH FRQWH[W RI ÀFWLRQDO HQWHUWDLQPHQW³
DQG WKHUH ZLOO DOZD\V H[LVW WKH IDQV OLNH 'HUULFN ZKR UHYHO LQ WKH ÀFWLRQDOLW\ RI
the Twiworld, for whom the stakes of Native representation are high but the line
EHWZHHQIDFWDQGÀFWLRQLVRIOLWWOHFRQVHTXHQFHLQWKHFRQWH[WRISRSXODUFXOWXUH
Nevertheless, Wente’s blog post itself, one in a series of posts on a blog dedicated
WRDUHFHQWÀOP Reel Injun (Bainbridge, Fon, Ludwick, Diamond & Hayes, 2009),
DERXWWKHKLVWRU\RIPLVUHSUHVHQWLQJ1DWLYH$PHULFDQVLQÀOPEHOLHVWKHVLOHQFLQJ
absolution that he decries; by adding his voice into the ether, he has helped to
rewrite TwilightDVDVLWHRIGLVVHQWDQGUHÁHFWLRQSDUWLFLSDWLQJLQWKHFROODERUDWLYH
SURFHVVRIÀOOLQJLQ0H\HU·VKLVWRULFDOJDSV

5HÁH[LYH(PEUDFH7KH,QWHUYHQWLRQLVW6WDQFH

 .HHS\RXUHQHPLHVFORVHU³7KHRSSRUWXQLW\IRUFRUUHFWLRQ

,WVXUSULVHGPHWRÀQGLQP\UHVHDUFKWKDWSHUKDSVWKHPRVWSURPLQHQWUHÁH[LYH
embrace—another kind of participatory stance that I will now explore—came
IURPWKHRIÀFLDOYRLFHRIWKH4XLOHXWH1DWLRQ21 The tribal council has cooperated
with efforts to organize Twilight tourism in LaPush and Forks, endorsing a
tour company formerly called Dazzled by Twilight (now called Twilight Tours

20
Alternatively, Stephenie Meyer claimed publicly that she included only well researched facts about
4XLOHXWHFXOWXUHDQGP\WKRORJ\³DFODLPWKDWFRXOGEHDQGKDVEHHQGLVTXDOLÀHGE\SDUWLFLSDWRU\
responses from Wente or anyone else with evidence to the contrary, leaving media audiences with a
UHÁH[LYHXQGHUVWDQGLQJRISURFHVVHVWKDWXQGHUSLQWKHTwilight mythos.
21
http://www.quileutenation.org/

94
 VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, AND OTHER HUMANS

in Forks22). Although they have taken some pains to protect tribal lands from
exploitation by tourists—posting a photography policy23 and Indian country
etiquette guide24 prominently on their home page—they have demonstrated
their interest in courting Twihards as an opportunity to educate them about their
cultural history and, where necessary, to set the record straight. Representatives of
the tribal administration collaborated with ReelzChannel, a television network, to
produce a special show revisiting the TwilightKDXQWVRI/D3XVK7KH79VSHFLDO
ZDVSXEOLFL]HGDVWKHÀUVWHYHUWHOHYLVLRQQHWZRUNRQ4XLOHXWHWULEDOODQGV³EXW
also showcases the Quileute culture beyond that which made it into the books
DQGÀOPVVXFKDV´WKHLQWLPDWHFHUHPRQLHVRIWKHGUXPFLUFOHDQGWULEDOGDQFHVµ
0HUFLHUL  :DUG  7KH WULEDO VSRNHVSHUVRQ -DFNLH -DFREV TXDOLÀHV WKH
tribe’s seeming embrace of TwiKDUGVHUYLQJ79FDPHUDV´,WZDVYHU\LPSRUWDQW
to this Nation to partner with an organization that we felt understood that the non-
ÀFWLRQDO4XLOHXWHVWRU\LVPRUHFRPSOH[PXOWLGLPHQVLRQDODQGVDFUHGWKDQ>WKH
one] everyone has been exposed to” (Mercieri & Ward, 2009). While acknowledging
the problematic representations of her own people through the Twilight franchise,
-DFREVHPEUDFHVWKHRSSRUWXQLW\WRUHÁH[LYHO\WUDQVIRUPWKHPLVUHSUHVHQWDWLRQRI
1DWLYH$PHULFDQVLQÀOPE\GHPRQVWUDWLQJZKDWZDVOHIWRXWRITwilight’s frame.
Similarly, representatives of the Quileute Nation collaborated in the curation
of a museum exhibit in the Seattle Art Museum called “Behind the Scenes: The Real
Story of the Quileute Wolves,” which was meant to provide a counterpoint to the
ÀFWLRQDOL]HGORUHRIIHUHGE\WKHERRNVDQGPRYLHV7KHH[KLELWGLVSOD\HGREMHFWV
IURPWKHÀOPVWKDWDFFXUDWHO\UHSUHVHQWHG4XLOHXWHLFRQRJUDSK\RUKDQGLFUDIWEXW
ÀOOHGLQWKHPDMRUJDSVLQWKH4XLOHXWHV·KLVWRULFDODQGFXOWXUDOQDUUDWLYH´$IWHU
Twilight came out, I got my ears pinned back by some of our elders,” said Ann Penn-
Charles, a leader in the Quileute community who dances and shares her culture
with her tribe’s youth. “They said, ‘How dare they portray us as werewolves?
That’s so disrespectful. I want you guys to go represent us the way we Quileute are
meant to be.’ When you get directives from the elders like that you have to honor
them” (Briggs, 2010). And so, by facilitating a deeper connection between the
Twilight franchise and the Quileute Nation, the Quileutes are also taking control
of the narrative voice representing them. They treat an initial misrepresentation
as an opportunity to gain autonomy and inform a massive captive audience,
bloodthirsty for information on all things Twilight-related. What was initially only
voiced by Meyer as the “story of” the Quileute became a polyphonic chorus of
voices. Through discursive practices such as this exhibit, the Quileute Nation took
on the role of co-producers of all that Twilight says and means.
In fact, the nature and purpose of TwilightWRRNDQRWKHUUHÁH[LYHWXUQDVDQ
opportunity to generate interest in the Quileute tribe and its cultural knowledge—
within their own one-square-mile reservation:

,QVWHDGRIIRFXVLQJRQWKHOLEHUWLHV6WHSKHQLH0H\HUWRRNLQPDNLQJXSDÀF-
tional culture for a tribe and naming it Quileute, the Quileute have focused
on getting more of their youth to dance, to know their songs and practice the
culture that makes them distinct in the entire world. (Briggs, 2010)

22
http://www.facebook.com/twilight.tours.in.forks
23
http://www.quileutenation.org/qtc/media_policy_2010.pdf
24
http://www.quileutenation.org/indian-country-etiquette

95
 WPEL VOLUME 26, ISSUE 2

Rather than recontextualizing the effects of the Twilight series as silencing or

ÀFWLRQDOL]LQJWKH4XLOHXWHSHRSOHWKH1DWLRQLWVHOIFKDQQHOHGWKHPHGLDREMHFWRI
Twilight into a starting point for further discussion and celebration of their “real”
identities—which they had a major hand in constructing for themselves.

.LOOWKHPZLWKNLQGQHVV³7KHRSSRUWXQLW\IRUH[SRVXUH

Chaske Spencer, the actor who plays wolfpack leader Sam Uley (the most
prominent Quileute role after love interest Jacob Black), has taken on a leadership
role in advocating for Native American issues in the wake of his post-New Moon
instant fame. In two separate and well-circulated journalistic interviews, Spencer
KDVGHIHQGHGWKH6DJDWDNLQJWKHUHÁH[LYHVWDQFHWKDWWKHÀOPV·UHSUHVHQWDWLRQV
of Native Americans actually “squashed” a lot of stereotypes: “We’re part of this
pop culture phenomenon, and we’re put in a different light. And the kids see
that, and they’re digging on it. They love that vibe” (Dobuzinskiz, 2010). Despite
the bare chests of the big-screen Quileute boys, Spencer embraces other subtle
ways in which their roles have unlocked the image of the Native American from a
hermetically-sealed past; they wear blue jeans, go to high school, and use common
youth slang words. For many Native American youth, asserting and being proud
of their heritage may be more important (at this stage of their lives) than the
ÀQHU SRLQWV RI WKH P\WKRORJ\ WKLV FRPELQDWLRQ RI UHYHUHQFH DQG LUUHYHUHQFH LV
HPERGLHGLQ-DFRE%ODFN·VVNHSWLFDOH[SODQDWLRQRIKLVRZQWULEH·VÀFWLRQDOLQWUD
Twilight) werewolf and vampire myths (Meyer, 2005). Chris Eyre, director of Smoke
Signals (\UH$OH[LH%UHVVOHU(VWHV5RVHQIHOW 6NLQQHU³DQRWKHUÀOPWKDW
attempts to take a contemporary look at youth life on a reservation—is quoted
in the article about Spencer’s interview as saying that “any negative effect has
been eclipsed by Native American actors working in a big-budget Hollywood
fantasy that will be seen by millions of moviegoers” (Dobuzinskiz, 2010). Eyre and
6SHQFHU UHÁH[LYHO\ HPEUDFH WKH RSSRUWXQLW\ IRU 1DWLYH$PHULFDQ FKDUDFWHUV WR
be seen as contemporary, “real” people, but also to be seen at all on the otherwise
whitewashed big screen. These stances recontextualize Twilight into a historical
metanarrative in which Native American actors are slowly but steadily gaining
JURXQGLQWKHÀOPLQGXVWU\
Spencer acted in Eyre’s critically acclaimed Smoke Signals (Eyre et al., 1998) when
he was younger, but had the opportunity to express his frustration with the rest of
his early career—a series of typecast, stereotypical Native roles—before the United
States Senate. On May 5, 2011, the US Senate held a hearing called “Stolen Identities:
The Impact of Racist Stereotypes on Indigenous People.”25 Although the hearing
was convened to address the stereotypes reproduced by Native American-based
sports mascots and other media representations, it came at an uncanny moment
in the news cycle: with Osama Bin Laden recently assassinated, the world was just
learning that Navy SEAL Team 6’s code name for their operation in Abbottabad was
“Geronimo.” An instant backlash emerged26 (Tucker, 2011), and resurfaced in the
25
http://indian.senate.gov/hearings/upload/CHASKE-TESTIMONY-5-5-docx.pdf
26  
An anonymous participant posted the following uncanny metaphor on the Indigenous Languages
and Technology (ILAT) listserv in response to the “Geronimo” scandal: “Once a group of people are the
enemy...it seems enemy status is perpetuated by degradation. Degradation is perpetuated from adults
WRWKHOLYHVRIFKLOGUHQHYHQE\JDPHV8VFKLOGUHQJUHZXSÀJKWLQJ´MDSVµDQG´JHUPDQVµZLWKRXU
green plastic army men and had no idea how prejudice was sinking its fangs into us” (ILAT Listserv,
96
 VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, AND OTHER HUMANS

testimony of many of the guests invited to speak at the May 5th hearing—including
Chaske Spencer’s: “Whether it’s intentional or unintentional we need to be more
conscious of the associations we make. When we associate Geronimo with someone
like Osama Bin Laden, even if it is to depict the courage necessary to capture
KLPWKHQHJDWLYHFRQQRWDWLRQVDUHLQHYLWDEOHµ6SHQFHU6SHQFHUUHÁH[LYHO\
acknowledges the multiple possible interpretations of “Geronimo,” encouraging
PHGLDPDNHUVWR´EHPRUHFRQVFLRXVµRUUHÁH[LYHDERXWWKHLUZRUNV·LPSDFW
He goes on to explain why he participated in an entertainment industry that
insisted on shunting him into “stereotypically native roles”:

These were roles I had to take because I needed to work, that at this point
I would pass on.... Recently, I have turned down roles that somehow por-
tray Native American people in a negative light. It is a pivotal time where
we have a unique opportunity to break beyond the stereotypes.... One of
the biggest opportunities that we as Native Americans now have, given
the more mainstream spotlight and attention, is to shine a light on is-
sues that have impacted us for decades and in some cases, generations.
(Spencer, 2011)

6SHQFHU SHUIRUPV KLV UHÁH[LYH HPEUDFH RI Twilight—recontextualizing it as an

opportunity for proactive participation in reshaping the public sphere—through
his testimony before Congress, in countless other media appearances, and as the
GLUHFWRU RI D QRQSURÀW DGYRFDF\ RUJDQL]DWLRQ DSWO\ QDPHG %H WKH 6KLIW27 His
stance is strengthened by the affordances of participatory culture, such as the
transformational quality of discourses that insert themselves into conversations
rather than bemoaning their place on the sidelines of traditional media production.
+RZHYHULWLVLPSRUWDQWWRQRWHWKDWKHLVWKHGLUHFWEHQHÀFLDU\RI6WHSKHQLH
Meyer’s massively successful commercial enterprise, whereas, say, the Quileute
Nation itself is not. In a recent New York Times op-ed article called “Sucking the
Quileute Dry,” Angela Riley brings attention to this crucial discrepancy:

“Twilight” has made all things Quileute wildly popular: Nordstrom.

com sells items from Quileute hoodies to charms bearing a supposed
Quileute werewolf tattoo. And a tour company hauls busloads of fans
onto the Quileute reservation daily. Yet the tribe has received no pay-
ment for this commercial activity. Meanwhile, half of Quileute families
still live in poverty. (Riley, 2010)

5LOH\VXJJHVWVWKDWWKH4XLOHXWH´VKRXOGEHDEOHWRKDYHDVD\LQDQGEHQHÀW
ÀQDQFLDOO\IURPRXWVLGHUV·XVHRIWKHLUFXOWXUDOSURSHUW\µ5LOH\7KLVQRYHO
WKRXJKLWVKRXOGQ·WEHEXWSUDFWLFDOVWDQFHUHÁHFWVWKHPDUULDJHRIWKHWZRNLQGV
RI UHÁH[LYH HPEUDFH GHVFULEHG KHUH D UHDSSURSULDWLRQ RI WKH PDVVPHGLDWHG
representation of the Quileute that affords both autonomy for them to voice their
RZQQDUUDWLYHDQGDÀQDQFLDORUDWOHDVWSURPRWLRQDOVWDNHLQWKHPHGLDVXFFHVV
their cultural history helped to produce. Riley’s response, through the lens of
participatory culture, does not see the TwilightWH[WVDVÀ[HGHQWLWLHVWREHWDNHQDW
face value or chastised through critique, but rather as mutable features of a media
landscape that we participate in shaping.
administered by University of Arizona, sent May 5, 2011).
27
http://shiftthepowertothepeople.squarespace.com/
97
 WPEL VOLUME 26, ISSUE 2

&RQFOXVLRQ7RZDUGD0/(RI5HÁH[LYLW\

Any text that we might choose to use in our classrooms will come
already surrounded by assumptions and judgments about its cultural
value, which students themselves will inevitably articulate and wish to
debate. The crux is surely that they should be able to question the pro-
cesses by which such judgments are made, as well as their social origins
and functions, as part of their study of the text. (Buckingham & Sefton-
Green, 1994, p. 5)

When Buckingham and Sefton-Green wrote this injunction in 1994, the internet
was hardly a twinkle in the eye of the average household. Both scholars have since
published extensively on the topic of MLE,28 and the affordances of new media
KDYH ÀJXUHG KHDYLO\ LQWR WKH HPHUJLQJ OLWHUDWXUH RQ QHZ PHGLD OLWHUDF\ DQG
learning. The missing piece of their statement about what MLE “should be” can be
found in Jenkins’ (2006; 2010) model of participatory culture, which he and other
scholars see as an ever-growing grassroots phenomenon, as evidenced by the
aforementioned examples of participatory Twilight fandom and discursive debate.
This missing piece involves going beyond the (also crucial) stages of questioning
DQG DQDO\]LQJ PHGLD DUWLIDFWV LQ FRQWH[W DQ 0/( RI UHÁH[LYLW\ ZRXOG VXSSRUW
participation in the form of creative media production, to materialize these analytic
judgments in the culturescape, thereby transforming the initial media object and
co-constructing its social meanings.
Jenkins (2010) introduces eleven core concepts that he believes “are the skills
some youths are learning through participatory culture, but they are also the skills
that all youths need to learn if they are going to be equal participants in the world of
WRPRUURZµS$V,PHQWLRQHGEULHÁ\RQHRIWKHVHFRUHFRQFHSWVLVsimulation,
or the ability to use evidence to see the underlying model of any kind of dynamic
system. To unpack the kind of simulations wherein models of personhood are being
represented by the mass media, such as “Native American” or “romantic hero,” an
understanding of simulation is especially powerful. It allows one to calibrate the
integrity of different, often competing, models for representing people—models
that converge with the lived reality of those represented (and of anyone else who
incorporates those models into their world view).
Judgment, another one of Jenkins’ eleven core concepts, operates in tandem
with simulation with respect to media representations:

Judgment requires not simply logic but also an understanding of how

different media institutions and cultural communities operate. Judgment
works not simply on knowledge as the product of traditional expertise
but also on the process by which grassroots communities work together
to generate and authenticate new information. (p. 84)

This understanding of judgment shifts the authority of knowledge production

away from the seemingly transcendent power of “traditional expertise,” traditional
media producers and institutionalized sources of information. Where simulation
calls for understanding how or why a model operates, judgment asks where it comes
28
In fact, both are contributors to the recently compiled Manifesto for Media Education, available at
http://www.manifestoformediaeducation.co.uk.

98
 VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, AND OTHER HUMANS

from and who the stakeholders are. Incorporating this kind of emphasis into MLE
would contribute not only to the careful evaluation of mass-mediated information,
but to the transformation of media consumers into media designers and producers.
Recognizing that an author, another human being, lies behind all the media objects
one experiences sheds light on the validity of one’s own authorial voice.
Jenkins acknowledges that this kind of judgment has always been present in
literacy education, but his discussion of it in the context of new media “underscores
that judgment operates differently in an era of distributed cognition and collective
intelligence” (p. 83). The internet and other new media technologies have shifted
the onus of producing and safekeeping knowledge away from the elite expert
and toward the self-correcting crowd. A primary example of this shift exists in
Wikipedia.org, a participatory online encyclopedia that gains credibility as a citable
source with every passing day. This image of how knowledge is produced and
maintained should inform not only our approach to MLE, but the traditional
“critical” media studies and cultural studies approaches to mass-mediated
UHSUHVHQWDWLRQVRILGHQWLW\7KURXJKWKHOHQVRISDUWLFLSDWRU\FXOWXUHDUHÁH[LYH
stance is more effective than a merely critical one, because it recognizes its own
SRZHU WR DFW XSRQ WKH FXOWXUDO ZRUOG DQG GRHV VR 7KURXJK UHÁH[LYH PHGLD
practices, critiques can and often should be leveled, but alternate scenarios are also
imagined and materialized. Participatory media production adheres to the object
of critique (or admiration), and becomes part of what it is and means in the social
world. The Twilight Saga has catalyzed many varieties of audience participation,
but it is especially worth our attention as a transformative, mutable cultural object
whose social meanings are ever emergent and multiply authored.

Acknowledgements

I am deeply indebted to Haley De Korne for incisive and exhaustive editing, and
to Dr. Betsy Rymes for valuable advice and inspiration throughout the evolution of
this paper. Thank you to my clever colleagues in the Spring 2011 seminar on Mass
Media and Schooling, for your curiosity and honesty, and to Thomas Deis (for the
same, out-of-school).

Joanna L. Siegel is a doctoral student in Educational Linguistics at the Graduate School of Education
at the University of Pennsylvania. With a background in comparative literature, she seeks to take
an interdisciplinary approach to research in language and learning, examining intersections of new
media, creativity, multilingualism, and indigenous issues. Please contact her with questions or
shared interests at josi@gse.upenn.edu.

5HIHUHQFHV

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